At 19, Ruby Evans has already achieved what most gymnasts only dream of—she is the first Welsh athlete in more than 50 years to win the all-around title at the British Championships. That gold in Liverpool, earned just months ago, has given her the confidence she needs as she prepares to make her Commonwealth Games debut this summer in Glasgow.

Evans is one of 127 Welsh athletes preparing for the 2026 Commonwealth Games, a distinctly smaller event than the Birmingham Games four years earlier. The Glasgow gathering will feature just 10 sports—athletics, swimming, gymnastics, track cycling, netball, weightlifting, boxing, judo, bowls, and 3x3 basketball, along with their para-sport equivalents—a dramatic reduction from the 20 sports showcased in 2022. Yet the streamlined format hasn't dampened the ambitions of Team Wales, whose members are hungry to prove themselves on home soil—or nearly so.

For double Olympic champion Matt Richards, this Commonwealth Games represents something singular: a chance to finally claim the medal that has eluded him. Richards' mantelpiece already gleams with golds from Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, plus multiple world and European titles. But Birmingham 2022 haunts him. He walked away with four fourth-place finishes that year, finishing just off the podium each time. "Not just a medal, I want the gold," he said. "It's that one that's really gotten away and it happens to be one that's the only opportunity I get to do, racing for Wales. So it's one that's close to my heart." His recent form suggests he's in peak condition—he claimed two golds and a silver at the British Championships in April alone, proof that this year may finally be his.

The appeal of representing Wales rather than Great Britain resonates across the team. For Ruby Evans, competing for her home nation carries emotional weight. "I've always wanted to do something for Wales because everything's always Great Britain, which is obviously amazing, but I think just competing for my home country will be such a special feeling," she explained. She won silver in the floor exercise at last year's World Championships in Indonesia and feels the momentum building.

Similar feelings animate Funmi Oduwaiye, who took up para-athletics just four years ago and now competes in the F44 shot put and F64 discus. The 23-year-old, who won bronze in the shot put at the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi, is excited to make her Commonwealth debut. "I'm looking forward to representing my smaller nation of Wales rather than the whole of Great Britain," she said. "The fact that I know my team-mates more closely, train alongside some of them, I'm family friends with some of them—I'm looking forward to the vibes, I'm looking forward to the energy."

Then there's boxer Owain Harris-Allan, who was just 18 when he won bantamweight bronze at his Commonwealth debut in Birmingham. The now 22-year-old has since narrowly missed qualification for the Paris Olympics but returns to the ring with steely determination. "Gold is the minimum I'll be taking this time," he said. "It's a lot of pressure, but pressure makes diamonds, so I like the pressure."

Across 127 athletes and 10 sports, Team Wales arrives in Glasgow not merely hopeful but hungry—ready to prove that smaller nations, competing for the pride of home, can punch above their weight.